Dated 1913, this bespoke black wool coat carries the original label of Joce, Lamb & Hayles, 19 Albemarle Street, London W., with the handwritten name “Trevor Williams Esq.”
Albemarle Street formed part of the refined tailoring world of Mayfair and London’s West End. Its association with bespoke clothing was significant enough that Huntsman — later one of the defining houses of Savile Row — originally established itself on Albemarle Street in the nineteenth century.
The name on the label raises an intriguing possibility. Edmund Trevor Lloyd Williams was a London solicitor from a wealthy Welsh landowning family and one of the central figures behind the creation of The Gramophone Company. After investing £5,000 in the enterprise in 1898, he became its chairman and remained in that position for more than three decades, later becoming one of the founding directors of EMI. In 1913, he was at the height of this career — precisely the social and professional world in which privately commissioned West End tailoring would have been entirely natural.
The chronology, London location and client name all align. The coat itself is also cut on a substantial scale, broadly consistent with surviving portraits of Williams, who appears as a solidly built man — though this can only be treated as supporting visual context, not proof of ownership.
Without a surviving order book, receipt or personal wardrobe record, the attribution cannot be considered definitive. What remains is a 1913 London bespoke garment with a compelling possible provenance to Edmund Trevor Lloyd Williams — lawyer, investor, chairman of The Gramophone Company and an important figure in the birth of the British recording industry.
Externally, the coat survives in remarkably good condition for its age, with the black wool retaining a deep, severe appearance and only light signs of wear. Inside, the original lining is preserved but torn in several areas, revealing the century of life hidden beneath an exceptionally clean exterior.
SIZE ≈M-L
The model is ≈178 cm tall and weighs ≈70 kg
Measurements:
• PIT TO PIT – 54 cm / 21.3 in
• SHOULDERS – 46 cm / 18.1 in
• SLEEVE LENGTH FROM SHOULDER – 60 cm / 23.6 in
• LENGTH – 101 cm / 39.8 in
